DOT to close West Rocks Road bridge for $4.1M overhaul

Published
4:42 pm EDT, Friday, May 4, 2018

Traffic moves along The Merritt Parkway as well as over the West Rocks Road overpass Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Norwalk, Conn. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is gearing up to replace the West Rocks Road Bridge over the Merritt Parkway with preparation work already underway. The Norwalk Department of Public Works anticipates the bridge being closed from the end of May until the end of summer with traffic detoured over to Main Street via Linden Street and Creeping Hemlock Drive. The project comes several years after the DOT replaced the East Rocks Road Bridge over the parkway and finished way behind schedule. less

Traffic moves along The Merritt Parkway as well as over the West Rocks Road overpass Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Norwalk, Conn. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is gearing up to replace the West ... more

Traffic moves along The Merritt Parkway as well as over the West Rocks Road overpass Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Norwalk, Conn. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is gearing up to replace the West Rocks Road Bridge over the Merritt Parkway with preparation work already underway. The Norwalk Department of Public Works anticipates the bridge being closed from the end of May until the end of summer with traffic detoured over to Main Street via Linden Street and Creeping Hemlock Drive. The project comes several years after the DOT replaced the East Rocks Road Bridge over the parkway and finished way behind schedule. less

Traffic moves along The Merritt Parkway as well as over the West Rocks Road overpass Wednesday, May 2, 2018, in Norwalk, Conn. The Connecticut Department of Transportation is gearing up to replace the West ... more

NORWALK — The West Rocks Road bridge over the Merritt Parkway likely will be closed for most of the summer as the Connecticut Department of Transportation performs a $4.1 million overhaul.

State officials are aware of lingering local anger over the East Rocks Road bridge rehabilitation. That bridge was closed in March 2010 with the intent of reopening it the following May. Instead, the it reopened in November 2011.

Travis Woodward, the DOT project engineer overseeing the West Rocks Road bridge rehabilitation, said the schedule for the new work was crafted around the school year to minimize the impact to residents and schools.

“The contractor can close the bridge and detour city traffic as early as May 29, 2018,” Woodward wrote in an email. “There is an incentive to the contractor of $100,000 if they delay the roadway closure to June 15, 2018. All bridge superstructure work must be completed and the bridge reopened to city traffic by August 27, 2018.”

Penalties of $11,600 per day will kick in if the contractor fails to meet that deadline, he wrote.

The West Rocks Road Bridge over the Merritt Parkway Bridge was built in 1938 and rehabilitated in 1986. Its superstructure, or upper portion, is due for replacement. The overhaul, which was awarded to New England Road, Inc., in December 2017, will rehabilitate the superstructure to meet current standards by replacing the deck, bridge parapets and girders while retaining the historic character of the existing bridge, Woodward wrote.

The project will widen the bridge’s existing 2-foot, 6-inch-wide sidewalk to 4 foot, 2 inches. The ornamental railing facing Merritt Parkway traffic on both sides of the bridge will be removed and reproduced to match the existing design. There will be upgrades to bridge guiderails — on the bridge and at its approaches — to meet current safety standards, according to Woodward.

Norwalk Director of Public Works Bruce Chimento said motorists will be detoured along Linden Street, Main Street and Creeping Hemlock Drive. He noted that the bridge closure and resulting detour also will affect school traffic. West Rocks Road is home to West Rocks Middle School and All Saints Catholic School.

Peggy McDonald, who lives with her daughter and son-in-law on Caddy Road just south of the bridge, said her family will have to detour when picking up her grandsons at Cranbury Elementary School.

“We usually go over the (West Rocks Road) bridge, so we would have to go down and around to Winding Lane through to Bayne Street,” McDonald said.

Chimento said the bridgework also will replace a First Taxing Department Water Department mainline that runs across the structure. The taxing district, in an unrelated project, intends to replace its nearby water tower.